Frogs (class response)

I wasn't in school the day the frog dissection took place, but I learned a lot about frogs. Some things I learned about frogs is that they have gills when they are tadpoles and get lungs as they grow up into mature frogs, sexual reproduction happens outside of the body, and I also learned that frogs do not have any passages that would define them a male from a female. Frogs have one passage was for the wastes and sex cells which is the cloaca. The cloaca leads to the outside body. I also learned that male have a vestigal oviduct that serves no purpose. My question is, why do male frogs have a vestigal oviduct if they don't need it, and why do they have it if they don't produce eggs?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13342-prehistoric-frog-from-hell-hints-at-ancient-land-link.html



-Sometime in February, researchers found a prehistoric frog that was very big. The drawing above is a drwing that showed what the frog or toad might have looked like. It was very big compared to a mantidactylus guttulatus. This frog was found in the country of Madagascar.
-Scientists believe that this frog is a toad because of its size. This abnormal amphibian lived about 120 million years ago.
-Scientists believe that this amphibian lived in the desert because of its color of skin.
-The frog or toad is 40 centimeters long.

My opinion about the topic about frogs, is that frogs are animals that have lived since a long time ago. This is important because we can find out more and more about how frogs came to be currently, and how they transformed to be be so small. Discovering and learning about prehistoric animals is extremely important because we would find out how animals are today. We can also examine the environments that they lived in. We also can compare the prehistoric animals to animals in the same phylum today, so we can find out which animal has descended from this prehistoric animal. In conclusion, I think that prehistoric animals are very important and will probably help answer questions about our enormous ecosystem.

Link Between Math and Global Warming

Everything imaginable, some how, has to do with math. Especially if there are numbers, fractions, or decimals, then math 100%, in some way, makes a connection. One of the few items math is greatly involved, is the global issue, global warming. Global warming is the increase in temperature or the decrease in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere or surface temperature. Of course, the increase and decrease of temperatures is linked with mathematics. Scientists can find out how much the temperatures have increased or decreased, by math. Scientists find out the weather out side is by math.Another possibility that math is linked with global warming is when there is an increase or decrease in the populations of animals or plants. Every month people go into the wild and don't literally count all of the animals left in a certain species, but they take a really close estimate. The estimate is then compared to the old population estimate, and we all find out if a species of an animal has increased or decreased. Finally, math can be found and used everywhere, including global warming.

Animals in the animal kingdom (Class Response)

For the past few days, I was learning in class about the different phyla. Some of them are echinoderms (like sea stars), arthropods (like spiders), and cnidarians (like jelly fish). There are also 32 other phyla. Some things I learned about in class is that the phylum that animals are put in are classified by their symmetry. They are bilateral (one line of symmetry), radial symmetry (more than one line of symmetry), and asymmetrical (no lines of symmetry). Second, I have learned that only 5% of the world's animals are vertebrates (have a spine), and 95% of the world's animals are invertebrates (have no spine). Finally, I also learned that some animals can reproduce both sexually and asexually.

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/trnov01.htm
From this helpful website, two interesting facts I learned are:
-Every animal has it own way of life no two animals can live the same way.
-Every animal on earth fits into a phyla, even animals that were extinct for over billions of years!

My opinion on this topic is that this is a great way to classify animals, but I think that each some phyla have to be broken down into smaller sections like mammals. The mammals is a group that contains a huge amount of animals, and should be broken down into sections. Also, I am confused, why are there more invertebrates that vertebrates in the world, and most of them live in the water? I also want to know why animals that are extinct are considered into the phylum today, even though they are no longer living. All in all, I think that animals being classified into their own phyla is a great idea, but has some ups and downs.

My Podcast (Geochemistry)

my geochemistry podcast Geochemistry (amacster)

The moon is a main attraction again...water is found on the moon!!!! (Current event)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g_WHHFPrQjvdnQhVIvx5o9a-v66AD9BV87LG1

Who:NASA found water on the moon by looking through a telescope.

What:NASA sent a rover to the moon.The rover crashed and water came out of the crater the rover crashed into.

Where:The water that was discovered near the south pole of the moon.

When:The water was discovered on Friday, November 13,2009.

Why:The water wasn't found on purpose, the rover crashed, and water came out.

How:The rover crashed into a weak spot on the moon and water came out.

On Friday November13,2009 an astonishing discovery was made.Water was found on the moon.First of all, the water was discovered "accidentally". It all started last year in October when NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) sent a rover over to the moon. On its way back, something went wrong when the rover was lifting off of the moon(the day it left the moon was Friday November 13).The rover crashed and...water was spewing out of the place where the rover had crashed. Many people who work at NASA predicted that the rover crashed into a weak spot on the moon.Also, the discovery of water on the moon might come in handy.The water on the moon can help by if the supply of water ran out,and there are people on the moon,they can get from the water that is available on the moon and use it.

In conclusion, I think that in the future, the water on the moon will lead America to eventually send men to the moon again. Although many think NASA should keep focused on mars. In my opinion, I think that NASA should send people to the moon and actually check if there is water, or if it is another kind of liquid. I also think that samples of the water should be brought to earth to make sure it is regular and not salt water. Furthermore,new water should be brought to earth because there is lots of water that is being polluted.

Density Lab (Class Response)

Last week, I was assigned to a group. We where supposed to do a lab based on how liquids don't mix together if they don't have the same density. For example, we put ketchup and poured, with caution, syrup on it, the syrup wouldn't mix with the ketchup. One thing I learned is that when you put some thing less dense first, then pour something more dense than the first liquid, the less dense liquid will make way for the more dense liquid and the less dense liquid will rise to the top. Also, when my group and I left the cup that had the liquids over night, they rearranged. The liquids rearranged themselves from most dense to least dense. Lastly, that if you piur the liquids carelessly, then the liquids will mix and will not rearrange to be in order.


http://gifted-classes-materials-lessons.suite101.com/article.cf/finding_the_density_of_a_liquids

-A liquid's density can change due to the temperature
-The density of water can change. Depending on it's temperature.

My opinion about this fascinating lab is that it taught me many things I have never new before. For example, I never knew that liquids with different densities made boundaries and never got mixed when the where pour carefully. All in all, I think that this was a great lab and it taught me many fascinating facts.

What:Chinese scientists found a fossil of a dinosaur.

Where:In north eastern China. In a dried up river bank.

When:On September 17, 2009.

Why:The didn't look for it, the fossil showed up when the river dried up.

How:The fossil was found while people were digging up the dried river.

On September 17,2009 a group of scientists found a whole skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex. They have tested it for its strength and it was said to be that it was small than the t-rex about 100 times, but it was as strong. It was found that it was alive more than 100,000,000 years ago. So, they lived way before the tyrannosaurus. Telling scientists that this dinosaur might be the ancestor of the tyrannosaurus rex.


In conclusion, I think that this a huge step forward learning about the early dinosaurs. Especially about the tyrannosaurus rex. Also, This is a great way for the scientists to stude the early dinosaur age and the early tyrannosaurus rex.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/09/17/tiny.t-rex.dinosaur.discovered/index.html